“You might be damned.”
“Don’t jinx us.”
He laughs. “Wouldn’t agreeing with you be jinxing it?”
“I guess if you’re following the same logic to why people say ‘break a leg’ instead of ‘good luck’ to performers, right?”
“I suppose. Though I don’t believe in jinxes. Curses, obviously. But hoping for something good to happen to you isn’t going to make the universe bend its will.”
“If only I was as optimistic as you.”
We’re lying on the couch together and for the last half hour or so, Lucas has been fascinated by the way my hair glistens in the sunlight.
“You’re much more optimistic than I am. I’m the realist in this relationship.” Smiling, he kisses me. “You need me.”
“In more ways than one.” I wiggle my eyebrows and scoot closer to him. “I should get started on my boring afternoon, though. I need to go grocery shopping.”
“That does sound boring.”
“It’s not so bad.” I stretch my arms over my head. “I don’t feel like leaving you, but I’m hungry.”
“Me too.”
“Do you want my blood before I go?”
“No.” He kisses me. “Drinking your blood while you’re already hungry will weaken you. You’ll feel the blood loss more on an empty stomach.”
“Right. I’ll drink a protein smoothie or something on the way back.” Smiling, I get up and get my purse. “I’ll hurry back.”
“Take your time. I have a few phone calls to make, and I plan on FaceTiming Eliza and freaking her out by stepping out of a dark room and into the sun.”
“You’re mean,” I laugh, shaking my head. I still don’t get the dynamic of those two, and I probably never will. Sometimes Lucas is like the overprotective father figure, commanding Eliza to obey him. And then other times it’s like they’re brother and sister, with a best friend vibe. He loves her, I know that for sure, and she’s borderline obsessed with him, which is totally normal for someone in her position.
Vampires are weird.
I give each of my familiars a pet as I head out the door, getting in the car only to realize I left my cloth shopping bags in the house. I run back in to grab them and finally head out. It’s a nice summer day, slightly cloudy and no humidity at all.
My mind drifts to the moonstone and how it was able to absorb and then use the power of the sun against Lucas. The gemstones don’t retain the heat for long, but I’m sure there’s a way to weaponize them.
Or get them to take in the harmful rays that hurt vampires.
If I could figure out how the gems are taking in the sun, I might be able to use it in a charm. And if I could do that, Lucas could walk in the sun with me.
No more hiding indoors.
No more waiting to go out together until the sun sets.
He could feel the heat of the sun directly on his skin. He could sit outside and listen to the birds chirping.
He’s a vampire and is drawn to the dark by the same forces that keep him undead, but being able to have the days together…
“It’s impossible,” I say, shaking my head at myself. I let off the gas, letting my Jeep slow down before I get to the intersection where my rural road meets another, more-traveled road that takes me into town.
The grocery store is busy today, not too surprising for a summer afternoon. I think about how life would be if Lucas were free to walk in the light as well as the night. I get way ahead of myself, imaging us in the big white house, doing nothing out of the ordinary but just being together.
And lounging around a pool together. I’d have a cocktail, of course, and Lucas would sip my blood out of a martini glass…or right from the source. We could have parties, and I could invite my friends over. We’d eat and drink and swim and tan, and then once the sun goes down, Eliza would show up, grumbling about how lame everything is but secretly having fun at the same time. Maybe she’ll even bring a human date or something.
“Sorry,” I say, accidentally bumping into someone’s shopping cart. I was so lost in thought I didn’t see the woman behind me when I reached forward to grab a bag of apples. I stepped back and hit her cart with my butt.
She narrows her eyes. “Watch it next time.”
“I…uh…” I’m taken aback and don’t know how to respond to that. She shoves her cart forward, narrowly avoiding me. Someone must be having a bad day. I don’t take her shitty attitude personally and go back to my shopping. I should have made a list, because I’m filling my cart with way more than I need.
My thoughts drift back to Lucas—no surprise, I know—and how perfect life will be once we’re together in that big, white house. Even if I can’t somehow come up with the impossible charm that allows a vampire to day-walk, I can enchant the windows in that house, and we’ll have the days together as well as the nights.
I get all squishy feeling inside when I think of waking up next to him every morning…or every night. He makes me so freaking happy, and, like him, I didn’t believe people could actually be destined to be together.
I wanted to believe, tried hard to hold onto the hope I’d find my happily ever after, but there was a small part of me that didn’t believe it, no matter what. Because real life isn’t like a book. Real life doesn’t end happily.
Real life sucks sometimes.
I put the final items in my cart and get in line behind a middle-aged man. The woman ahead of him is going through a stack of coupons, making her checkout take twice as long. He loudly huffs and impatiently shifts his weight back and forth. I get it, buddy, it’s a little annoying to be held up, but he’s borderline throwing a temper tantrum like a child.
“Can you believe this?” he mutters under his breath. “Fucking couponers.”
The woman with the coupons turns and looks at him, cheeks flushing. “Sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t going to give me back my time,” the guy snaps. “If you can’t afford this shit without a million fucking coupons, maybe you shouldn’t buy it.”
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“Hey!” I snap, letting my hand slip off the handle of the cart. “What is your problem?”
“My problem?” The guy rounds on me, looking me up and down. “My problem is none of your fucking business.”
“Excuse me?” I cross my arms and hike an eyebrow. Keep it up, asshole. You push me, I push back.
“Sir,” the manager rushes over. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave if you don’t settle down.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” The guy goes to shove his cart forward, hitting the woman ahead of him in the ankles. I telekinetically hold it, and it’s like he thrust his hands forward against a solid wall. He tries again, confused as to why his cart isn’t moving.
Swearing, he stomps his foot and storms away, muttering angrily to himself the whole way out the door. The poor cashier looks like she’s about to burst into tears.
“Thank you,” the coupon lady says to me. Her hands are shaking. “You didn’t have to say anything. I coupon like this so I can get more, you know? I donate it to the food pantry.”
“That’s amazing and a really good idea. I wouldn’t have thought about doing that.”
The cashier lets out a shaky breath, and the manager tells her to take a few minutes to calm down. He takes over her register.
“Something must be in the air today.” He rings up the remaining coupons.
“People have been like that all day?” I ask.
“I’ve seen more behavior like that just today than I did all last month.”
“Weird,” I say, thinking back to the rude lady who snapped at me. Throne Hill isn’t small enough of a town for everyone to know everyone’s name, but we have a tight sense of community here. That’s part of the appeal and why so many witches and warlocks from my coven took up residence here. Well, other than being conveniently located along the Ley line and the doo—
Oh shit.